I received an update from cwylie on Friday stating that he received the header that I modified for him and had tested it on the car...he said the Truturn steering components now clear the headers everywhere by a mile. Hopefully he will chime in sometime today with more detailed information and some photos for those interested in seeing the outcome.

 

Just wondering what the "structural connection" difference is between the 2 pans and how important it is and also what the difference is in oil capacity is between the 2 pans (Mast and 302-2). Still trying to decide which pan to get since my Texas Speed 570 horse LS3 is now sitting in my garage waiting for the transplant operation into my 69 Firebird! To me, it looks like just buzzing off the corner of the bend on the Tru Turn bracket where it might hit the front sump corner doesn't look like it would be a big deal. Thanks.

 

Maintaining the structural tie-in to the transmission bellhousing is a feature that is only available with the Holley pans, as the Mast pan (or any other aftermarket pan)does not have it. As far as "needing" it, the purchaser would need to decide how important it was to him to have to same engineered level of NVH reduction that GM designed into the stock pan in his aftermarket pan.

As the sump of the Holley 302-2 pan is wider and nearly 2" longer than the Mast pan, the oil capacity will be higher (6.2 quarts with the filter).

For those that want a pan the is guaranteed to clear the TruTurn bracket when using the new Hooker mounting components, the Mast pan would get you there without any issues.

If the Ridetech bracket is not produced using any special heat treatment, I would clearance it myself with a grinder the same as you described and go with the greater oil capacity and structural tie-in of the Holley pan.

 

Well, I bit the bullet and ordered a kit from Jegs today that has the 302-2 pan, 1 7/8" coated headers, motor mounts, x-member, and Prothane mounts for motor and trans. The price was the same as if you pieced the kit together from Summit, but most of the parts aren't in stock at Summit. My Jegs order will be here Thursday (headers next week). I decided to go with the Holley pan because I want the extra oil capacity it provides. If I have to, I think I will grind a little off the corners of the Tru Turn bracket (with Ride Tech's blessing hopefully) to relieve any interference. However, I'm not sure there will be any because with the 275's on front I think I will loose a little turning radius which might prevent the bracket from touching the pan (seen at full lock).

 

You're on your way to a nice finished package jlwdvm. If you are planning to modify the one tube of your passenger side header that interferes with the TruTurn inner tie rod, it's best to start with a stainless or painted mild steel set of the headers so you don't have to deal with removing ceramic header coating in the area to be welded. Once you perform the modification, you can send them out to be coated if you are using the mild steel headers. The stainless headers are the way to go in my opinion since you can easily modify them and don't have to deal with coating the headers afterwards.

 

Oops...forgot about that. I guess I could modify the tube and then paint it with thigh temp silver to hide the fixed area. I suspect it is in an area that isn't easy to see anyway?

 

JLWDVM its not easy to see the area if you are going to dimple the header its the bottom of the second tube. If you look at the pictures I posted it should give you a good idea. If you run the idler arm off a 67 it will help a little with how much of a dimple you have to put in the header.

 

My Pitman arm is a new Moog unit that measures 5 3/4" center-to-center....I'll have to measure the idler arm (it's new too).

 

If its the Moog idler arm it should measure 5.375 center to center. If you run a 67 Idler arm its 5.8 center to center which will help you a little with the header clearance.

This is the most affordable 67 idler I found:

Proforged part 102-10003

Some of the other options out there were almost $200

 

Ok here are the pictures of the modified header. Im not sure if Todd took any pictures before he sent it back but I can pull it back out and take pictures if needed but here are pictures installed. This is with the 5.8 inch 67 idler arm but there is plenty of clearance to use any idler arm.

 

Is that a 302-2 oil pan? Looks like you have plenty of clearance between it and the Tru Turn bracket...what about at full lock? Unfortunately I have the 5.3" idler arm and don't think I would be able to return it now. My ceramic coated headers are on the way. I'll have to see how they fit I guess.

 

Yes, cwylie is using the 302-2 pan and there's no clearance issue in the neutral steer position; it's only when you make full-lock turns that the bend in the Tru Turn adapter bracket gets up close to the pan.

 

I got my Hooker x-member installed in about 5 minutes. I have my 302-2 pan ready to install on my LS3 that currently has a GM Hot Rod pan installed. Not sure if my windage tray will fit the 302? Any tricks to installing the oil pan on an LS?

 

Thats at far left lock it gets close to the oil pan at right lock. It clears...... but not by much. Looking at the pictures again the modified header clears by more than it looks like in the pictures.

 

As per the 302-2 pan instructions, you have to use a 4th-gen F-body tray, or cut/modify any other LS tray you have to the same length to allow you to use it.

 

If anyone is interested in how I performed the modification to the header for cwylie, let me know and I'll prepare something I can post up that illustrates the process clearly.

 

Post 'em up since I will probably be trying to modify mine soon. I got my coated headers on Saturday. Is it normal for there to be runs in the coating?

 

I'll put something together to have up by tomorrow...runs in the coating can sometimes happen, but they should not be very big. If it's not something you like the looks of, you can call the Holley Techservice line and arrange to have them exchanged for you.

 

This document should explain the modification process to the header fairly well. Let me know if you need anything else.

 

I had to open up a hole on one side of my passenger motor mount to get the holes lined up enough with my Prothane clam-shell inserts to get my bolt through....is this normal/ok?